Chappell Roan’s rise to pop stardom happened slowly, then all at once.
She started by singing covers on YouTube over 10 years ago, using her real name, before she earned a record deal out of high school. Her debut single, Pink Pony Club,” was released in 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her album came out almost a year ago to positive reviews and a small but dedicated fanbase.
Over the last six months, though, her star has gone stratospheric. A stop at NPR’s Tiny Desk and a star-making Coachella appearance introduced Roan to new audiences, just as her songs Good Luck, Babe!” and HOT TO GO!” started soundtracking hundreds of thousands of TikToks. Her massive summer culminated in what may have been the biggest Lollapalooza set in the Chicago festival’s history — as many as 110,000 people were in her audience.
Sudden fame has weighed heavy on Roan, but her discomfort became untenable earlier this week. She shared two videos on TikTok in which she criticized invasive fans who have followed her around, stalked” her family and demanded photos or hugs in public despite Roan’s resistance.
I don’t care that abuse and harassment, stalking, whatever, is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little famous,” she said in one video. It’s weird how people think that you know a person because you see them online and you listen to the art they make … I’m allowed to say no to creepy behavior, okay?”
In a lengthy Instagram post on Friday, she doubled down on her comments, reiterating that she’s clocked out” when she’s not performing and doesn’t owe anything to people who approach her during her downtime. And while she loves making music and the support she’s felt from respectful fans, she said, she will not accept harassment of any kind because I chose this path.”
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